This symposium considers infectious diseases in Africa, including bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic diseases, which comprise a major cause of death, disability, and social and economic disruption for millions of people in Africa’s developing countries. This conference will aim to look at the borderless effect of infection, its impact on children and the importance of intervention. International speakers will talk about how to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases and discuss new diagnostics vaccines and drug treatments.
Jobs and Announcements
Pan-African Symposium on Infectious Diseases
9-11 May 2011: Johannesburg, South Africa
Petition to reduce transfer costs for remittances
Avaaz: 30 December 2010
According to this petition, an estimated US$44.3 billion worldwide was lost in transfer fees in 2010. This amount includes transfer fees on remittances paid by workers in developed countries who are sending money to families back home in developing countries. Western Union, a major international transfer company responsible for a large share of international transfers, charges 20% on transfers, the article notes. The World Bank recommends that costs not exceed 5% of the total amount transferred, but Western Union has never faced serious pressure to lower its charges. By signing this petition, you can help can expose these exorbitant charges and hopefully result in the company lowering its charges to the World Bank rate. Reducing the profits of companies like Western Union would dramatically increase assistance flowing into developing countries. The neediest countries coming out of war or disaster suffer the greatest losses, because of transfer companies' monopolistic privileges and exclusive deals with local banks, the authors of the petition argue.
Second Conference of the African Health Economics and Policy Association
15-17 March 2011: Senegal
The Second Conference of the African Health Economics and Policy Association (AfHEA) will be held in Saly Portudal (Palm Beach), Senegal from 15-17 March 2011. The overall theme of this conference is ‘Toward universal health coverage in Africa’. Universal coverage is understood to mean providing financial protection against health care costs for all, as well as ensuring access to quality health care for all when needed.
World Health Organization call for papers: Violence against women as a health issue
Submissions may be made throughout 2011
The World Health Organization (WHO) is inviting submissions of papers describing research that addresses violence against women. WHO is particularly interested in research with a strong intervention focus, including ways to get violence against women onto different policy agendas, lessons about how to address some of the challenges policy-makers face, and innovative approaches to prevention or service provision, including community-based programmes in both conflict- and crises-affected and more stable settings. Papers may address more neglected forms of violence against women or provide evidence on the costs and cost-effectiveness of intervention responses. Descriptive research that contributes to a better understanding of the global prevalence and costs of violence, or that provides evidence about the root causes of such violence, will also be considered.
Call for abstracts: Transnational Health Care: A Cross-Border Symposium: Regions & Development (20-21 June 2013, Wageningen, Netherlands) And Itineraries & Transformations (24-25 June 2013, Leeds, United Kingdom)
Closing Date: 3 February 2013
At a time in which the provision and regulation of health care within national boundaries is profoundly shifting, the growing numbers of people going abroad in pursuit of health care mean that the social, political and economic significance and impacts of these flows at a range of levels cannot be ignored. This symposium provides those involved in cutting-edge empirical and conceptual studies on this issue to share their work, explore emerging research agendas and foster research collaborations. Abstracts of no more than 250 words are welcomed on topics that include but are not limited to: empirical and conceptual studies of specific medical tourisms or locations; innovative methodologies and methods for researching medical travel; national and transnational medical cultures and their impacts on medical mobilities and ‘translations’; and new and emerging agendas for transnational healthcare research. Please submit abstracts to the symposium organisers as on the website.
Fifth Annual HIV-in-Context Research Symposium: Urbanisation, Inequality and HIV
13 March 2013 - 15 March 2013: Cape Town, South Africa
From its base in the University of the Western Cape’s School of Public Health, this year’s HIV in Context Research Symposium looks beyond biomedicine at some of the social determinants of HIV, and of responses to HIV, within and outside the health sector. The Symposium will examine the links between HIV, inequality and the dynamics and impacts of urbanisation – dynamics that play out between settings as people move permanently or temporarily to urban centres, and within the highly unequal spaces constituting South African cities. The particular experience of Cape Town as a destination and transit point on migration trajectories will be examined in relation to other cities in South Africa and beyond. Through diverse disciplinary and sectoral lenses,practitioners, researchers, policy makers and civil society activists will examine the many ways in which urbanisation, inequality and HIV interact and affect people’s lives.
Free online course on primary health care
23 January-26 February 2013
The short course "Health for All through Primary Health Care" by Henry Perry of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health begins on 23 January 2013 and runs for five weeks. It will involve four hours of student work per week – one hour of lecture, one hour of course readings, and two additional hours of work. A statement of completion will be provided for those who successfully complete the assignments. This course is time-limited in the sense that the work must be completed weekly according to the time schedule for the course, and it will not be available to take except for the period between January 23rd and February 26th. However, it is free and open to anyone with internet access. Almost 14,000 people are currently enrolled.
Research methods course in sexual and reproductive health, HIV and gender-based violence: 12–28 August 2013: Johannesburg, South Africa
Closing Date : 1 March 2013
Are you a clinician, researcher or other professional in the field of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) or HIV looking to improve your research skills? Are you currently conducting or planning to conduct SRH or HIV research in the near future and wanting to learn more about research methodology? The Research Methods Course in Sexual and Reproductive Health, HIV and Gender-Based Violence offers an opportunity to strengthen your research skills and your contribution to increased capacity for SRH and HIV research on the African continent. At the end of this intensive three-week course will you should be able to: initiate and participate in qualitative and quantitative research; critically appraise research findings; understand the major SRH/HIV issues affecting the African region; and access a network of other professionals in your field for information exchange and research collaboration. For more information on eligibility and course fees or to request an application form please contact Janine White-Jacobs at the email address given.
Contact: researchmethodscourse@wrhi.ac.za
Sixth South African AIDS Conference
18-21 June 2013: Durban, South Africa
The Sixth South African AIDS Conference will be held in Durban from 18-21 June 2013. The conference theme is "Building on our successes: Integrating responses". As South Africa enters the fourth decade of HIV and AIDS, the conference aims to look back at lessons learnt and reflect, celebrate the gains made, and find ways to build on past successes by integrating HIV with other health responses. The conference will bring together various members of the HIV research community, including clinicians, academics, civil society and government.
Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health
Recife, Brazil: 10–13 November 2013
The World Health Organisation’s Workforce Alliance convened the First and the Second Global Forums on Human Resources for Health, in 2008 in Uganda, and 2011 in Thailand respectively. The Global Forums brought together key experts, fellow champions as well as frontline health workers around the common goal of improving the human resources for health to achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals. Both Forums concluded with the adoption from committed participants of ambitious agendas suitable to translate political will, leadership and partnership into sustainable and effective actions. The Third Global Forum will be held in Recife, Brazil, from 10–13 November 2013.